Generally, anastomosis refers to the connection of blood vessels or other structures that may be found in the human body. Conventional solutions for vascular anastomosis typically refer to the use of devices and surgical procedures in which one vessel is surgically joined to another vessel. This procedure is required for a variety of medical procedures, including procedures involving redirection of bodily fluids such as blood within the patient. One conventional example is a cranial bypass procedure that diverts a portion of the flow of a temporal artery located outside of a skull to one or more arteries within the skull in order to provide additional blood flow to a patient's brain.
When performing any form of vascular anastomosis, a major concern is that the flow of bodily fluid must be interrupted for the duration of the procedure. This interruption of flow, if too long, causes detrimental effects to organs and surrounding tissue, which can endanger, jeopardize, or worsen a patient's general health.
Currently, a common conventional method of vascular anastomosis includes manually applying a number of sutures to create a fluid-impermeable seal between two vessels. This process is not only difficult, time consuming, and expensive, but also requires a high degree of surgical skill and a considerable amount of time and patience from a surgeon. Additionally, the use of sutures introduces a potential weakness in a surgical connection placed to connect two or more vessels, often resulting in tearing or leakage. Further, a surgeon is often required to test a conventional anastomosis connection between two vessels to ensure that the sutures have created a fluid impermeable seal. A leak resulting from poor or weakened sutures can create a number of problems such as internal hemorrhaging for the patient, requiring additional surgeries, time, and expense. Also problematic are conventional connectors used in anastomosis procedures that are often bulky, unwieldy, or difficult to use, typically requiring significant skill and specialized equipment that can be expensive to manufacture and purchase. Further, the time required for submission, review, and governmental approval of applications for the use of elaborate medical devices in humans for anastomosis applications is substantial, incurring significant social and health care costs due to the delay. Some conventional solutions used in applications such as side-to-end vascular anastomosis often require more time, expertise, and effort since joining an end of a vessel to a side of another vessel is more time-consuming and skill-intensive than joining an end of a vessel to an end of another vessel.
Thus, a solution for more vascular anastomosis without the limitations of conventional techniques is desired.